Well, the good thing is... the French finally support the U.S.! If everybody else (i.e., the rest of the civilized world) would follow in their steps at the same time, I would love to see who would the other guys direct their medieval rage against.

You know what's sorta funny about this: Where the hell do they get all the flags from? I mean whenever in some country something happens which pisses these extremists off, they immediately have the right flag at hand to burn? Do they have flag warehouses in every other hicksville? Do they hand out sets of flags, just in case?Honestly, I wouldn't even know where to buy an American flag in my hometown in Germany. Ok, I could probably order it from Amazon, but I guess that's not really an option for these lunatics we're talking about.

That's something that has had me thinking in the past, too. You might find there's a conspiracy theory that fits: factory in Los Angeles makes them to special order using illegal Mexican labour and ships them out to Israel from whence they get passed on to the wider middle east. But look, if the theory is correct, it means manufacturing jobs in the States and also, perhaps, in the UK and any other land whose flags require partial incineration - and that's where the manufacturing skills lie: only enough flag must burn to allow the remnants to be recognized in even the shortest tv exposure.

Oliver Stone: a story awaits!

;-)

Rob C

P.S. I didn't enjoy the cartoon in the link; I don't like insulting or treading on anyone's religious beliefs. Who knows: they may even be correct. There's certainly something bigger than any of us out there or, even, inside each one of us.

P.S. I didn't enjoy the cartoon in the link; I don't like insulting or treading on anyone's religious beliefs. Who knows: they may even be correct. There's certainly something bigger than any of us out there or, even, inside each one of us.

The cartoon isn't intended to insult or tread on anyone's beliefs, Rob! Its sole aim is to ridicule the reaction. I'm astonished by your comment.

The cartoon isn't intended to insult or tread on anyone's beliefs, Rob! Its sole aim is to ridicule the reaction. I'm astonished by your comment.

Jeremy

Jeremy, I realise perfectly well its why; that in no way means that I think it's acceptable to ridicule or make obscene pictures of anyone, never mind anyone's religious symbols. It shares the morality of the newspaper industry publishing images of a distressed Diana under the guise of objecting to others doing exactly the same thing.

Simply to produce further caricatures and disrespect under the heading of satire in no way alters the content; it just pastes on additional layers of cyncism and, possibly, hypocricy.

No, I wouldn't officialy ban such things; I'd hope that people wouldn't seize upon the freedoms we enjoy in order to do what this new cartoon does. And in my opinion, what it does is add fuel to a fire and offend yet more people, myself included. I dislike mocking people's beliefs; as long as they don't impinge upon my life in some negative manner, I feel they should be respected. What defence can there be for the new cartoon? Not one religion but many are mocked and insulted within it; where the improvement, the saving grace? I think the drawing would be offensive regardless of the nature of the specific characters depicted.

30 days is the general rule for dignitaries such as presidents, ten days for VP's, members of congress, etc. However, there are always those we hold in very high esteem who get equal honor as would a president but this can only be through an executive presidential order. You have to be in high cotton to get a full month. Most half-mast events are one day only.

I think it probaby illustrates what's basically amiss with cheap digital (never owned MFD so can't comment on that score) for subjects such as this, and also seems to show the problems that some of the Merrill images of like subjects do: sand-like texture where no sand exists. This shot doesn't look any the more smooth on the monitor pre-posting here.

It strikes me that even my venerable 40s/early 50s Kodak Brownie Reflex (127 film?) would, at such a size, have given a superior rendering of the picture. To be fair, the cellphone doesn't cope too badly with smooth subjects such as car bodies. But small, complex detail: forget it.

Thanks Walter and Eric. I have one more, which is part luck and part skill. Bought a new wide angle zoom and of course kept in mind that such lenses are prone to flare when the light or sun creeps in. But started to notice some interesting effects when I included the flare and the rest is trial and error. I really like this one, which I slightly cropped, otherwise untouched because I notice that sharpening, or almost any adjustments cost me the wonderful ephemeral quality.

I have a friend who regularly does the Art Show circuit. He sells about $1,000 per show in "Cards, Calendars, etc" a show. He says it's what allows him to continue as sales on actual photos can be either real good, or dismal depending on the show, but "pretty pics as postcards or greeting cards sell like hotcakes in either case. He said at one time it bothered him to solicit himself in photo whoredom, but now he just laughs all the way to the bank.

I have a friend who regularly does the Art Show circuit. He sells about $1,000 per show in "Cards, Calendars, etc" a show. He says it's what allows him to continue as sales on actual photos can be either real good, or dismal depending on the show, but "pretty pics as postcards or greeting cards sell like hotcakes in either case. He said at one time it bothered him to solicit himself in photo whoredom, but now he just laughs all the way to the bank.

Greet away, I say!

How can anyone feel degraded by selling to people exactly what they want to buy?